Story Highlights

After 30 years of helping borderland residents identify with their Jewish Sephardic roots, Rabbi Stephen Leon has put the stories and lessons of his journey on paper.

"The Third Commandment and the Return of the Anusim," published in July and available on Amazon.com, is his memoir about the community, its people and their personal stories, history and traditions of crypto-Jews, and the phenomenon of Anusim.

Anusim in Hebrew or crypto-Judaism refers to people of Spanish descent who return to Judaism after their ancestors were forced to convert to Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition.

For many years, he has counseled people who came to him trying to understand traditions in their families who they didn't know were Jewish and helped those interested in returning to their Jewish heritage.

"I thought about writing this book about 10 years ago as I was finding myself becoming more and more involved in helping people who had discovered that they had Jewish Sephardic roots in their family's ancestry," he said.

In 2009, Leon presented a resolution before one of the largest Jewish organizations in the world, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, to observe a Jewish holiday which would teach and welcome crypto-Jews to learn about their heritage. The resolution passed that the suffering of crypto-Jews would be memorialized as part of Tisha B’Av observances.

Over the years, Leon has met many Hispanic Catholics with interesting stories of how they uncovered their Jewish roots. He has brought more than 100 families back to Judaism.

She made me promise to her that I would take this holy object called 'Tefilin' and bury it with me. Both of us were brought to tears when I made that promise.

"The one event that most inspired me was meeting an elderly Hispanic Catholic woman who had kept a Jewish religious sacred item in her pocketbook for 30 years, which her Sephardic Jewish grandfather had given her," he said. "She made me promise to her that I would take this holy object called 'Tefilin' and bury it with me. Both of us were brought to tears when I made that promise."

The first part tells the stories of different people of El Paso, Juárez and New Mexico who have shared personal and emotional accounts of how they discovered secret Jewish practices in their families for generations.

The second relates the importance of the Third Commandment in regard to the history and traditions of crypto-Jews.

"The book explains this commandment and how it relates to the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition which witnessed religious people in God's name torturing, executing and expelling Jewish people and others," he said. "To escape this vicious historic event, thousands of Jews hid their religion secretley, thus the term "crypto-Jews."

The last two sections tie the phenomenon to the El Paso community and speak about how to hold accountable those who were responsible for creating Anusim.

Through his book, Leon hopes that people will learn more about crypto-Jews. He opened the Anusim Center — part museum, party study center — in August of 2014. It is in the process of moving to a different location.

Bill Carvajal, President of the Anusim Center, states in the center newsletter that to Leon, "(Anusim) isn't something he's somewhat intrigued by, it's a passion from his heart."

Leon is organizing the first Sephardic/Anusim Fiesta with food, music, art and children's activities on Sunday.

"There is evidence that 15 to 25 percent of the Hispanic population here has Sephardic Jewish roots and don't even know it," he said. "I also hope that it will bring our community, our city, and through us, even the world to respect our differences, to end racism, and to bring true Shalom."

The book title also urges clergy of all faiths to work together to help end violence and hatred in the world, which is sometimes brought on by religious leaders, he said.

Through dialogue, study, practice and understanding, I believe that the religious clerics of today could help to bring an end to so much of the danger, bigotry, and horror which confronts our society and world.

"Through dialogue, study, practice and understanding, I believe that the religious clerics of today could help to bring an end to so much of the danger, bigotry, and horror which confronts our society and world," he said. "I believe that understanding the Third Commandment in a new light can make that hope for a world of peace become a reality."

Make Plans

Rabbi Stephen Leon writes about the families who has helped return to Judaism in his new book.(Photo: COURTESY PHOTO)

Excerpt from the book:

An 86-year-old crypto-Jew tells her story:

"When my grandfather was about to die, he called me into his bedroom and revealed to me that he was Jewish, these items were Jewish, and that they had belonged to his grandfather's grandfather from Toledo, Spain and that they were the only remnant of the family's Jewish's ancestry. He made me promise to him that somehow, when no one was looking, that I would bury one of these boxes with him, and the other box I would keep and when I was ready to die, I would tell my children, so that they would bury that Jewish box with me. And so, my grandfather passed away many years ago, and I saw to it, that next to him in the coffin, I managed to place that Jewish prayer box.

I haven't slept so well in recent days, dear Rabbi, because I know that I will be in heaven, soon, next to my Saba, as he told me to call him, next to my grandpa. But I shouldn't be buried with my grandfather's other Jewish box. It isn't right, and it isn't fair to him and to his Jewish grandparents. I am not Jewish. I have loved Jesus Christ my entire life. I go to church every Sunday. I do not want to disrespect my grandfather or the Jewish people. That is why I haven't slept so well, Rabbi."